[Bug 923525] Re: aptitude safe-upgrade attempts to install both "or" (|) dependencies

[Daniel Hartwig]

> I expect the safe resolver to be more conservative than the full
resolver.

Depends on how you evaluate conservativeness.  It is more conservative
in that it will not remove packages.

There is no guarantee that any solution found by the safe resolver will
be more compact than what the full resolver could achieve, quite the
opposite in fact, because the full resolver is unrestricted in the
actions it can take.

> I
> expect it to avoid installing and removing packages in an upgrade.

The safe resolver only guarantees to not remove packages.

There is no reason to expect it to avoid installing packages. The man
page clearly states that this is typical behaviour:

 safe-upgrade

 … Packages which are not currently installed may be installed to
 resolve dependencies unless the --no-new-installs command-line
 option is supplied.

> I expect
> to be able to use the safe resolver without having to check if each package
> is actually needed. I expect the safe resolver to parse the "or" symbol (|).

You have not provided enough information to demonstrate that these
expectations are not met.  See my previous response.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/923525

Title:
  aptitude safe-upgrade attempts to install both "or" (|) dependencies

Status in “aptitude” package in Ubuntu:
  Incomplete

Bug description:
  In bash I used the aptitude safe-upgrade command to attempt to install
  neccessary updates to both an Xubuntu 10.04.3 LTS system with kernel
  2.6.31-22-generic and an Ubuntu 10.04.3 LTS system with kernel
  2.6.32-38-generic.  Both systems use aptitude version
  0.4.11.11-1ubuntu10lucid1.  Amoung the upgrades was the package ubufox
  with the new version depending on the package xul-ext-ubufox.  That
  package was therefore marked for automatic installation.  It depends
  on the package apturl or the package apturl-kde.  The package apturl
  was already installed but the package apturl-kde was not.  Aptitude
  wanted to install the package apturl-kde and its dependants which
  numbered in the seventies.  The command aptitude full-upgrade did not
  attempt to install the package apturl-kde or its dependants.  In
  visual mode aptitude also did not attempt to install the unnecessary
  packages.

  I expect the safe resolver to be more conservative than the full
  resolver.  I expect it to avoid installing and removing packages in an
  upgrade.  I expect to be able to use the safe resolver without having
  to check if each package is actually needed.  I expect the safe
  resolver to parse the "or" symbol (|).

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
  Package: aptitude 0.4.11.11-1ubuntu10lucid1
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-22.60-generic
  Uname: Linux 2.6.31-22-generic i686
  Architecture: i386
  Date: Sun Jan 29 14:51:34 2012
  ProcEnviron:
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: aptitude

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